Ever since World War 2, America has been a nation on the defense. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was much like our more recent 9/11 which caused a great deal of grieving in America but also a sense of fear because we know now just how easy it is for another country to take advantage of a weakness in our security and harm us badly. It also threatens our way of life which is very important to all of us.

We’ve had our reasons to be on the defensive as a country but there are also those who have exploited our weaknesses too, but from within. Those in power have learned a valuable lesson about fear; it’s can be used as a tool to control the masses.

We have been taught to be afraid about so many things, from the fear of growing older to fears about disease and fears about weight gain. I could go on and on about all of our fears and our nation-wide marketing and advertising system that relies on our fears to sell us all kinds of pills, beauty creams and hair loss treatments, along with insurance policies of all kinds; all because we’re afraid of all kinds of things.

What we all should know is that our government, along with those behind our government plays on our fears to make us accept a great deal of the things that they do, that we wouldn’t accept otherwise. A certain element of the government and powerful corporations who carry huge contracts with the government, also have used fear very successfully over the course of the last half century and they will continue to use it successfully as long as they can convince over half the country to be afraid.

We must remember that we didn’t become the great nation we are by fear but instead by bravery in the face of death for many of our brave soldiers over the years wars have fought for us in so many wars.

The War Machine I refer to is the huge contracts that supply our U.S. government with military and intelligence supplies and those who serve them inside our government.

I’m not a believer in the conspiracy theory – that there are factions within the U.S. government that planned and carried out the attacks on 9/11. I do believe though that there were those who saw an opportunity and used it to their advantage and influenced our government to send us into a war we shouldn’t have been in, in the first place; I refer to Iraq of course.

As much as we hated Iraq and regret going in there – at least that’s the opinion of most of us – we still to this day, could easily be led into another war because of our fears. Our fears are so easily manipulated by those in power that we will do anything to secure our way of life, our liberty and our lives. Some of us are even willing to give up some of our liberty for more security.

There are many of those on the right blowing their horns about Iran and what seems to be an effort to finally lead us into war with that country. Our Republican presidential candidates certainly like talking tough about Iran but then; they’re trying to win the nomination for the Republican ticket which requires tough talk to get support from the conservative base of the party.

Most Americans right now are against any thought of going to war with another country, even Iran. But, if somehow the Republican candidate becomes president and also the Republican Party gains seats in both houses of Congress, you can count on a steady move toward war and a campaign by Republicans to start using fear tactics to move the populace toward accepting the reality of a need to go to war.

I sat back and watched the drumbeat for war to go into Iraq. First we’ve started a war with Afghanistan because they were protecting Osama bin Laden who had masterminded the attacks on 9/11. That war to me was justified even though we took our eyes off of the ball and put them on Iraq; Afghanistan is where we should have given our undivided attention to. The Bush administration began a campaign to convince us and the world that President Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and persuaded many of us to believe he could use them any day.

They used the nation’s fears to push it into war. Most Americans were ready to be led also as many were still beating their chests over the quick victory in Afghanistan. The nation was feeling invincible and victorious and our pride is what led us into a fall.

When it comes to deciding to enter into a war, we as a nation must always look humbly forward, realizing the toll that war not only has on our own country but on the millions of innocent citizens of the country we fight. Let us not let pride blind us from restraint and clear focus on what must be done, as well as what must not be done.